Scars
by Gazlowe
Summary: Lord Shen, stricken with amnesia from his seemingly final battle with Po, is found heavily wounded by a group of martial artists in a remote village. Without his past self to hinder him, he finds the peace, love, comfort, and acceptance he's always wanted. But when Viper and Mantis arrive in town, both invited to a local fireworks ceremony, his memories threaten to return...
1. Chapter 1: Discovery

Chapter 1: Discovery

The rain had been going on for the last four hours. Lin, a peahen, sighed as she walked through the storm, her green-tinted umbrella held over her head, just high enough for the small, feathered crest she had to have room. Mud was thick in some spots of the rural road she walked along, and puddles were abound along the dirt path that lead to the palace she was heading to, which should appear over the bend in another half-hour, or so.

"It may be a poor day for a walk, but at least those bandits are taken care of," she spoke, quietly, and cheerfully, an optimistic smile returning to her beaked face, as she thought back to the group of brutish thieves and marauders that attacked the nearby village, which was far behind herself. Their effort to pillage the hamlet ended in defeat at her feathers, earlier in the day, all thanks to her skill with martial arts.

As she monologued to herself, a flash of lightning, followed by the roaring sound of thunder went overhead, illuminating her forested riverfront surroundings, as she unflinchingly continued on. It was at this moment she noticed something impossible to miss, out of the corner of her blue eyes.

Turning her brown, feathered head, she saw a clearly white shape in the nearby river, as another bout of cloud-to-cloud lightning zapped through the sky. Curious about what the out-of-ordinary object could be, she walked further to it, straying from the path. Soon, Lin saw what she thought was a burned, or at least black-and-white, ragged strand of cloth, that was attached to the branches of a toppled-over tree, no doubt knocked into the river by some storm from the past. The river itself was a wide waterway, pulled by a strong current that lead from the sea, but it was a while back that it lost its saltwater in exchange for freshwater. Now only meters from it, she saw what it really was, through the dense rain.

It was no strand of cloth. It was a person!

In surprise, she dropped her umbrella, and rushed up to the shape, her feet and blue dress leaving tracks in the mud, before letting out a gasp when she had a full view.

The broken figure that was before her, caught, loosely, on the tree's black, gnarled, soggy branches, was clearly an avian in shape, like herself, and the size matched too. He wore a heavily damaged, white, silk robe that was stained in blood and water, covering his charred frame. Patches of feathers, as white and bloodstained in color as his robe, lined his body, and, to her immediate horror, the left side of his face, where his eye once was, looked bloody, disfigured, and crushed. It was almost as if something heavy and hard was bludgeoned into it. On top of his head was a crest, each feather making it up ending with red dots, while just underneath them were a pair of long, black feather quills that looked vaguely like eyebrows.

Also to her shock, she saw he held a weapon; a wavy-bladed lance of some sort, clutched tightly in a wing, as if for dear life. Around his skinny feet was what also appeared to be metal talons. The most noticeable thing she saw, however, was his long, bright white tail fan, proving to her, as she thought from the beginning, that he was peacock, if an unpigmented one at that. It was mostly undamaged, revealing many intact feathers, each one with a bright red, eye-like design on it, complete with a black center circle, reminiscent of a pupil, and it flowed in the water like a flag from where it rested in the water.

Without a moment's hesitation, the peahen set to rescuing the hapless, fellow fowl, as the storm around her raged on, and the water rushed forward, mercilessly.

* * *

The albino peafowl woke up, his right eye slowly twitching before coming to life. With a gasp, he looked toward the wooden ceiling up above, twisting his long neck on the feather pillow it lied on, causing a sore pain to go about his body, as he stared at his side, the two, barbel-like feathers on either side of his beak waving about.

He couldn't see out of his left eye, which felt incredulously sore, and he quickly realized it was covered in bandages that wrapped around his head, but with his limited vision, he could see, and almost feel the several acupuncture needles that were sticking out his left wing as he spied it, which stuck out from the many layers of wool blankets and quilts that covered him. He was about to lift himself up, to see how the rest of his body underneath the sheets looked, but stopped in his attempt when he heard the sound of light footsteps going across the wooden floor, nearby. Looking to it, he saw a feminine, bird-shaped figure approaching him in a strut, and when she was close enough, even in his haze, he noticed she was a peahen, around his age, if not slightly younger, and was garbed in a long, blue dress.

Clutched in one of her feathered hands was several more acupuncture needles, no doubt for him.

"Who are-" he tried to say, before the peahen raised a feather to his black beak, shushing him.

"Shh... you should not speak," she whispered to him, in a gentle, soothing tone. "Your injuries are too great. You need all the energy you can get."

"I can speak fine," he responded, somewhat stubbornly. "Where... where am I?"

"You're at the Limestone Palace, in the village of Pengyou," she replied. "I found you by the river three hours ago. If that fallen tree you were attached to hadn't been there to catch you, I fear you may have drowned. You should count your luck double that I found you in time before you bled out."

Just as she was finishing her sentence, the injured peacock, with a pain-filled groan, tried to lift his bandaged head from the bed, only for her to bring a wing onto his shoulder.

"Are you trying to open your wounds back up?" she asked, somewhat angrily, as she lowered him back to the pillow. He gave her a groggy glare, before registering her words.

"Wounds..." he muttered. "How bad are they?"

"You have dreadful burns all over your body, a broken wing, several other broken bones, and you're... well... missing an eye," she answered, explaining why he felt as he did.

The peacock's only remaining, red-irised eye shot completely open as she said the last part, before, slowly, returning to how it previously looked. He let out a pained sigh, before speaking again.

"It's missing? As in... gone?" he moaned, as he lifted his intact wing to the bandages on his face.

"To be blunt, and to not get into the details... yes," she said, lowering her head slightly. It was a few moments of silence before the injured bird asked something else.

"What is... your name?"

"Lin," she answered, with a weak smile, still slightly off-put by the memory of witnessing his injuries. "Lin Qiufeng."

"That's a... nice name" he complemented, before letting out a cough. As he spoke, Lin began to tend to his wound, placing a few of the needles into his damaged wing, each one inserted painlessly, and with near-surgical precision.

"I guess I forgot to mention you're running a bit of a cold as well," she chuckled, as she worked. He tried to join her in the tittering, but it hurt to laugh, and he trailed off into a small coughing fit.

"What's your name?" she then decided to ask, in return, as she placed another needle into the wing's wrist. Her patient went quiet for a moment, eye focused on the ceiling, as if in deep thought, before he replied.

"Shen," he spoke. "I... My name is... Shen."

"You sound as though you're unsure. Can you remember anything else, Shen?" Lin asked. Shen looked away, attempting to reach into the fog of his mind, and pull out something, anything, of memory. But, alas, he found nothing.

"...No," he finally said, sighing in a distraught manner, closing his eye. "I can only remember my name. A shadow falling from overhead. An explosion. Nothing... else."

"Well... you shouldn't let it trouble you," the peahen said again, as she placed the final needle she held in his wing. "I'm sure you'll remember again, in time. For now, you must rest, and heal."

"For... some reason, I do not think I want to remember..." Shen said again. Lin's brow curled in slight confusion at the enigmatic sentence, but went back to its previous position as another, high-pitched voice suddenly came from behind her.

"How's he doing?" it asked, catching Shen off guard.

"Oh, Master Crab, I didn't see you there!" Lin spoke, rapidly turning her head to the sound of multiple legs scuttling along the ground approached them both. Shen tried to look past his caretaker to see who it was, but was unable to see anything without straining. "He awoke just a few minutes ago, master."

"Ah, that is good," the voice spoke again.

"He said his name is "Shen," but he cannot seem to remember anything after that," she continued, as Shen saw a small, gray shape jump onto a nearby stool. As its name implied, Master Crab was, well, a crab, possessing eight, long, pointed legs, and a pair of large claws that all connected to his foot-long, gray, exoskeletal, shelled body.

"Hello, Shen," he greeted, as the creature's black, bulbous eyes brought his sickly face into view. "I am the senior master of the Limestone Palace. I hope you've thanked Lin here for the gratuitous service she provided you. I've never had a student as adept in the art of pressure points and medicine as her."

Lin smirked, proudly, as he mentioned her.

"Suffice to say, you're alive because of her. Do as she says, rest up, let her treat you, and you should be healed in... about three weeks," the crustacean continued. "We can go about what happens to you in the morning. For now, and as I said before... Just do as Lin says."

With those words, Master Crab turned, hopped off of the stool, back to the ground, and began to scurry away, before speaking one last time.

"You are free to stay here as long as you wish, and do not worry about the possessions you came here with. They are in a safe place."

As the sound of the door, which was only open a crack, was heard closing with an eerie creak, Shen noticed Lin's expression had changed to one of worry as she looked at him.

"What is it?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

"I... need to change the bandages around your face again," she replied, tapping two of the feathers on her wings together, anxiously. Shen, slowly processing what she said, let out an understanding sigh, and let the back of his head fall onto the pillow, in a tired fashion.

"It's to keep your injury from getting infected," she spoke again.

"I know that..." Shen mumbled. "Just... get it over with, please."

"This may sting a little..." she started, uneasily, as she began to place her feathers on the first bloodstained bandage, preparing for what was inevitably going to come next from unraveling it. Shen, holding his breath in, and scrunching his talons up, closed his remaining eye, and readied himself for the pain. He could feel the cloth, slowly, getting folded back, the dry blood peeling off with it, giving him a rather sick feeling in his gut, and then...


	2. Chapter 2: The Fearsome Four

Chapter 2: The Fearsome Four

The Asiatic golden cat and the gharial looked at each other as they readied themselves for battle, inside the ring of the training hall, the only thing above them being the roof. The goldish-brown furred, spotted cat wore a sleeveless, dark green garb, and a lighter green-tinted scarf around her neck, while black gloves adorned her hands. Currently in them was a bo staff, which rested behind her head, on either of her shoulders, in a resting, if not somewhat playful way, as her yellow, catlike eyes looked into her opponent's own small, also yellow, reptilian ones that showed from the mask he wore.

The gharial was taller than most crocodilians you'd meet in China, and extraordinarily skinny, so much so that he chose to bend his bare, scaly midsection over to look down at his opponent instead of simply turning his head, his back curling in such a way as if there was no spine at all. He wore a pair of plain, brown pants around his waist and stubby legs, and a black hood over his head, while his teal-colored, scaly body glistened in the candlelight, and sunlight that poured through the windows on the ceiling. As if his visage wasn't inauspicious enough, he also had a bright red-white-and-black, glass Peking opera mask with a yin yang symbol on its forehead over his upper face, exposing only his equally glass-like, unblinking eyes, and lower jaw from the hood.

The second most distinguishing feature he had by far, after the intimidating mask, was his extremely long, and exceptionally thin snout, lined with needle-sharp, jagged teeth, ending in a large, bloated-looking nose. His lengthy tail, which trailed behind himself, seemed to have a mind of its own, as it thrashed and thumped on the wooden ground like an eel out of water.

Watching them both, balancing from the top of a bamboo stick, was the grey shape of Master Crab, whose claw was raised. He lowered it the second he spoke to the two fighters.

"Begin!" he shouted.

The moment he said that, the cat reeled back on her legs, her tail shaking for a moment, before she jumped at the nearby wooden pillar, and ricocheted off of it with lightning speed, toward the reptile. He responded by turning around with an equal rapidity swinging his log-sized tail at her, hitting her stick as she raised it to her defense, knocking her to the side where she landed perfectly on the ground. Sliding several feet back, the nimble feline prepared for another assault, spinning her staff in both hands as she ran at her opponent.

"Try to focus on avoiding his attacks, rather then attacking only! Work on your agility!" Crab yelled again, as he saw the charging cat dodging the now-lunging reptile, whose body twisted, bent, and turned like a snake as he moved.

Watching them, besides Master Crab, was Shen and Lin, who stood on the sidelines, observing the training session as it went on. Shen, dressed in a white robe not unlike the heavily damaged silk one he wore when he was first discovered nearly five months prior, looked down at the lance he had been holding in his wing, and thought back to the time that he had been living with these masters since he healed from his injuries. When he showed talent with the skill he used with weapon, which felt practically instinctual to him, and no small part due to the fact he still couldn't remember his life before, he was allowed to stay, live, and train with the others. It was a mere short time before he became fast friends with them all, Lin especially, perhaps due to to her saving his life and all that, and just thinking about it caused him to rub a feather across the bandages he used to conceal what remained of his left eye, the cotton eye patch covering the socket and wrapping its thin strands around his head, narrowly avoiding the crest of feathers on the back of his skull.

Also spectating, and sitting near, but definitely not next to them, was a large and fat, but short and stocky black-furred boar that Shen learned was Gong Zhu, the palace's blacksmith, and a heavy, but jolly drinker. Around his wrists were bracers, covered in metal studs, and around his pudgy, and rather protruding gut was a set of equally-studded, weaved-together pants, covered in stains and filth from past meals and outside exploits. Protruding from his mouth were two pairs of long, curling, ivory tusks, which he picked at in a consistent and foul manner with one of his hooves, while the other held the grip of a war maul that rested by his side. Flies buzzed around his floppy, furry ears, and long mane that trailed down his head, to the lower part of his back, and he seemed to snort incessantly.

Back to the battle at hand, the cat raised the bo staff over her head, catching the reptile's long, thick tail as it came down upon her. The scaled appendage quickly wrapped itself around the wooden weapon, and attempted to viciously pull it from her grasp. Much to the gharial's surprise, instead of resisting like he thought she would, his opponent simply let go of it, and the recoil from using too much strength caused him to stumble back, dropping the wooden weapon in the process.

As he recovered and looked forward, he saw a blurry, gray shape jump toward him with a cry, flipping through the air, before landing a devastating kick on the base of his unarmored snout, stunning him. With another spinning kick to the shin as she landed to the ground, gracefully, the cold-blooded creature was sent to one knee.

Whilst on one knee, the gharial continued to fight her viciously, deflecting punches, chops, and kicks in baleful, calm silence, while also dealing with blows from her reclaimed bo staff. To the cat's horror, she saw he was slowly regaining his footing, and was nearly back on his feet, but changed her look to a smirk when she knew what to do next. Finally, she shot her palm forward, passing the gharial's defenses, and landed a tremendous blow on his chest, sending him, still in silence despite the damage, sliding across the ground to the edge of the ring, on his back, defeated.

"This round goes to Mei Ling!" Crab spoke, raising a claw toward the victor, who, after a satisfying sigh, went walking up to the fallen reptile, as Shen, Lin clapped and cheered, Gong Zhu throwing a halfhearted "yay" her way as well.

"Nice match, Yuzhao," the cat said, in a friendly manner, as she outstretched a paw toward the Gharial. Despite his lip-less maw and masked face showing no, or perhaps hiding emotion, he accepted it, and was lifted to his feet, after a small grunt of effort from Mei Ling for hoisting up the heavier creature.

"How does Mei Ling move so fast?" Shen inquired in his usual, soft-spoken voice, obviously impressed.

"Well, she _was_ top of her class at one of the most difficult kung fu academies in China," Lin replied with a smirk, reminding him of a fact she first told to him many weeks earlier. As she finished speaking, Crab looked to them with an expectant glare on his bulbous eyes.

"Lin, are you and Shen ready?" he asked. Both of the peafowls looked back at each other, before speaking once more.

"Are you?" Lin inquired. Shen gave her a sardonic smile that stretched across his black beak, as his eyebrow-like feathers lowered in response.

"I'm not the one you need to worry about..." he replied ominously, as he turned and slowly made his way to the ring, his train dragging across the ground behind him.

"We're ready," Lin spoke to Master Crab, confidently, as she started to follow him.

"Very well," the crustacean agreed, after seeing them both heading to where Mei Ling and Yuzhao still stood. "Take your stances. Mei Ling and Yuzhao, you may both spectate."

"Of course, master," Mei Ling replied, as both she and the gharial placed their hands together, and bowed to him, before walking back to the side of the ring, and to the sidelines, ready to observe how their newest member would defend himself. Shen and Lin took their places on the round arena, and slowly began to pace clockwise on it, before both came to a stop. As Shen readied his lance, Lin grabbed two, long, wooden sticks out from the belt around her dress. With a flick of her wings, the "sticks" snapped open, revealing themselves to be fans, or, to be more specific, war fans, each one's paper colored in a brilliant red shade, and displaying intricate symbols of an autumn wind painted on them.

"Ready..." Crab spoke, looking at both of the peacocks, each one wearing a look of fierce determination on their faces, eyes squinted, and beaks closed. Shen gripped his weapon tightly, before giving out a deep breath, as Lin eased her mind and muscles, until her body was completely relaxed, and ready for battle. On the sidelines, Mei Ling folded her arms, a large smile of anticipation on her face, while Yuzhao and Gong Zhu simply watched with, at the very most, mild fascination.

"Begi-"

The sound of the training hall's tall doors being thrown opened, their ancient, wooden frames creaking as they were sent ajar, interrupted the aged crab before he could finish.

"What's-eh?" Gong Zhu mumbled, looking up in surprise at the intrusion, the others following in his gaze, except for Yuzhao, who simply gazed at the wall ahead with his glassy, lifeless eyes, as if in uncaring manner. Waddling in from the door was a gray-feathered goose, his face filled with alarm, and weary from the flight up to the mountainside where the palace and training hall was located.

"Um... apologies, masters..." he began, out of breath, as heard by his panting. "I... I flew here to tell you all that snow leopard bandits have arrived in the town. I... I think they want to cause trouble!"

"Bandits?" Crab asked. "Are you sure? It's best not to judge a book by its cover, you know."

"Well... they might not be..." the goose said again, as he took his cylinder-shaped, blue-tinted hat off. "But they're bullying us, carrying weapons, and are lead by an even scarier-looking snow leopard. I... decided to fly up here to seek your help in telling them to maybe... uh... go away."

"Bullies, eh?" Gong Zhu asked, scratching one of his chins with a hoof.

"Seek our help?" Shen added.

"Scary snow leopard?" Mei Ling also inquired, placing a paw thoughtfully on her chin, her view shifting to their master. "Master Crab, do you think we should go down and see what their intentions are, before something bad happens?"

"That sounds like the best course of action," he replied as he refocused his attention to the bird at the door afterword, hopping down from the perch he sat upon, to the ground. "We appreciate that you've brought this to our attention. You may go tend to your matters, and I suggest you be wary of those you reported."

"Of course, sir. Thank you, sir." the goose said, before placing his hat back on, and bowing, respectfully. He turned around, and waddled out, leaving. Mei Ling immediately looked to her friends and nodded.

"Let's move out," she said, in an urgent tone. They each let out cheers of agreement, save Yuzhao.

"May I go?" Shen asked, as he strutted up them, his metal talons clinking on the ground as he twirled his lance in one of his wings, before letting it come to a stop, the blade-end pointed to the ground. "We all perfectly know I can defend myself. This is the first time you've all gone out since I recovered."

"I second that," Lin said right off.

"Me too," Mei Ling also agreed.

"What are your thoughts, Yuzhao?" Gong Zhu inquired, looking to the gharial in question. He didn't reply.

"Oh. I forgot you don't talk," the boar chuckled as he scratched at his spade-shaped nose. "Yuzhao and I both agree!"

"It's settled then, I presume. You all should head out now," Crab spoke softly. Without another word, each of the four raced out of the door, and practically flew down the thousands of steps lining the mountainside, leading to the town, in their haste to reach it. Even Gong Zhu, who many would even presume to be slow, fled almost as fast as the rest of them. Soon, Shen was the only one left. He walked up to the cliffside overlooking the stairs and sighed as he watched them all head to the mist-cloaked village below. he heard a voice from behind himself.

"What's on your mind, Shen?" Master Crab inquired.

"Just... admiring the view..." the one-eyed bird replied, flashing a cocky smirk. Crab huffed in reply, before turning around and scurrying back inside the temple.

With those final words to the wise old crustacean, the albino peafowl closed his eye and simply slipped off of the ledge, plummeting downward. He could feel the current of the misty air along his body as he fell through it, admiring the cool sensation that came with it, along with the sound his robe made when it fluttered rapidly in the wind. Before he could reach the bottom, his eye reopened, and his tail fan burst open like a flash of light, revealing the white, red, and black coloration it had, and he sailed the rest of the way down the mountain to rejoin the others, gliding like a magnificent, bird-shaped kite.

* * *

"So... a fireworks festival?" Mantis asked in a whistle, for the tenth time since they left the Jade Palace, and the Valley of Peace in general, nearly an hour ago. Viper rolled her green eyes in a mock-sarcastic manner at the way her insect companion phrased it.

"Yes... a fireworks festival," she replied, in the same way she had previously done, but chuckling slightly this time, as she peered through the foliage of the trees above them.

"But a fireworks festival?" he inquired once more. "Don't get me wrong, fireworks are cool and all... especially in festivals and stuff... but the first one any of us ever actually get invited to, and its not even a year since what happened in Gongmen City? I think I've had my fill of fireworks for one life, thank you very much."

"That's behind us, Mantis," she said back. "You know fireworks can bring joy, color, and happiness to everyone."

"Pff... and horrible, fiery death..." he mumbled in reply, thinking back to the monstrous cannons he remembered seeing, and their destructive effects.

"Well, they _are_ celebrating their five-hundredth anniversary since the town was founded," his friend replied, reciting what she previously heard from Master Shifu. "They wanted to make it special by using the largest fireworks show in China, and the local senior master of the province has invited two members of the Jade Palace to come and witness it. That's us, in case you don't remember."

"Wait, "senior master?" As in, "master of kung fu?"" Mantis asked again, stopping in surprise, and looking up at his serpent-shaped friend. "I didn't know there were any in the Jiangxi province."

"Oh, yes," Viper responded. "He runs the Limestone Palace, and trains the initiates there. He himself was trained by Master Oogway, and is also really, _really_ old."

"Oh, so sort of like Master Shifu and the Jade Palace?" Mantis spoke, noticing the blatant similarities.

"Yeah, they even have their own team," she continued. "The... "Fearsome Four" I think is what they call themselves. They protect the village."

Mantis smirked at the name. ""Fearsome Four..." It's got a nice ring to it. Though, I don't know why, I can't help but think of another group called something similar..."

"Do you remember who Mei Ling is?" Viper asked, suddenly remembering another crucial detail. Mantis swung his small head back at her in return, immediately recognizing it.

"Yeah, of cour- wait... isn't she Crane's friend from the Lee Da academy, where he first learned kung fu? The one he always talked about?" he asked, jumping onto a nearby rock, as he inspected the dirt road up ahead.

"Yeah!" she replied, in an excited tone. "Shifu told me that she's the leader of the group. I just can't wait to meet her! Crane always told me she was so friendly and well-spirited."

"Say... who are the others in the... "Fearsome Four?"" Mantis asked, trying, and utterly failing, to hold in a snigger from how the name sounded, placing one of his pincers on his mouth in a vain attempt to muffle it.

"Well, there's a gharial named Yuzhao, who's a gifted contortionist and escape artist, among other things," she began, ignoring his laughter. "...A boar and practitioner of the drunken fist technique named Gong Zhu, and lastly Lin Qiufeng, a peahen that specializes in a rare form of combat dealing with the use of war fans, as well as pressure points."

"War... fans?" Mantis spoke, noticing how unfamiliar the weapons sounded. "Are those like the kind you use to cool yourself off with?"

"I think so," she replied. "Her ancestors came from Japan hundreds of years ago, and brought the technique with them. I've heard it's as beautiful-looking as it is elegant and sharp."

As Mantis let the thought of someone wielding such an odd choice for a weapon sink in, Viper's face lit up as she remembered another detail. "Oh! And another thing, I also heard they just recently added a new member. They haven't given his - or her - name out, though."

"Well, let's hope they don't rename themselves "the Fearsome Five!"" Mantis chuckled again, feigning a look of terror, complete with a bug-eyed expression, and tiny, flailing limbs. As his act finished, complete silence, save for the sound of the wind blowing through the treetops, followed the two as they continued .

"Hey..." he suddenly whispered to her, in a tone reeking of mischievousness.

"What?" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Betcha I can beat you to the mountain pass..." he cackled, before suddenly zipping forward, bouncing off of every tree that lined the pathway, leaving insect chirps in his wake. Wearing a smile that exposed her fangs, and with a competitive glare in her green eyes, Viper dashed forward in a fast slither, head arced to the ground, as she attempted to catch up with her insect friend.


End file.
